Persistence pays as some laid-off Broward teachers get rehired

It's been nine weeks since this season of uncertainty began for more than 500 teachers laid off by the Broward County School District.

Among those put in limbo were band instructor Marcos Rodriguez, language arts teacher Rosanne Harrison and history teacher Laurie Marks.

The School Board officially delivered the pink slips on June 16, and the layoffs became effective July 1. Since then, the trio blanketed the area with resumes, searched job placement websites, contacted old bosses and waited for word from the district that they would be rehired by Aug. 23, when classes resume.

That persistence paid off for Rodriguez, who was recalled by the district and Harrison, who was hired by the Palm Beach County school district. For Laurie Marks, the clock keeps ticking.

Marcos Rodriguez

Rodriguez, 34, spent the first six weeks of his summer break in a constant state of worry about finding a job.

"I'm a religious man to a certain point, and I said, 'Okay, God, what is going on here? Why am I not getting a single phone call?," he recalled. "I had to find things to distract myself. I went to the gym. I ran. I played my flute. I did odd jobs around the house. That was my summer right there."

His answer came not in a phone call but in an e-mail two weeks ago. It told Rodriguez, of Pembroke Pines, that he'd been hired as the band instructor at Everglades High School in Miramar, where he'll oversee wind ensemble and concert band as well as the color guard.

"Oh, man that was an incredible day," he said last week, in between meetings with band section leaders, drum majors and parents.

But relief soon gave way to panic when the former band director at Crystal Lakes Middle School in Oakland Park realized he had less than two weeks to prepare for band camp. There, students practice about 12-hours a day for five days.

Band directors usually know more about their musicians, simple but important things such as their sound as a group, musical style, who plays what instrument. Rodriguez said he's been forced to learn that on the fly, and the pressure is on.

"These kids and parents have high expectations," he said. "I don't know what they feel about me, and I don't know what I'm walking into, so it's a little bit nerve wracking. But I'm just going to take it one day at a time."

Rodriguez said while high school is more time-consuming, there are more chances to impact students' lives because of all the time spent performing and rehearsing.

He said there is one thought gnawing at him: Will he be forced into this cycle of layoffs, worry and relief next summer, which would be his third in a row.

Rosanne Harrison

Ask Harrison, a language arts teacher at Rickards Middle School in Oakland Park, to describe herself and she'll tell you: educated, experienced and happy. What you won't hear is stressed out or jobless, which she was until about 4:45 p.m. Monday.

"I'll tell you this, and I don't mean to sound cheesy: Yoga and my meditation has really taught me about action, and sometimes inaction is action. Sometimes you just gotta breathe, and that's action. And sometimes you have to wait, and that's action," said the mother of two.

Her patience paid off on Monday when the Palm Beach County school system called and offered her a job as a curriculum director, teaching educators how to teach at-risk students. The job offer came the same day she had to hand in the first three chapters of her doctoral dissertation, which combines her love of curriculum and physical discipline.

Harrison said she was alsooffered her old job at Rickards Middle, but this new job is the one she wanted but didn't get because of budgetary issues when she returned to South Florida from Chicago one year ago.

Harrison, 34, of West Palm Beach, owned a yoga business and was an adjunct college professor, grant writer as well as the chair of a high school reading department. On July 1, she was unemployed—the third time in her seven-year teaching career. She lost her job twice in six years while working in Chicago public schools.

But instead of spending the summer stressed about what she didn't have, Harrison focused on the life she is creating with her fiancé, who she's marrying at sunset Saturday evening in a back yard ceremony.

"It's gonna be a love fest. Bring your own booze and bathing suits, " she said, adding that the invitations were handmade and the food prepared by family and friends.

Laurie Marks

It's been nine weeks since Marks found herself with no classroom but a passion for teaching—a desire so strong she spent the summer pursuing her permanent teaching certificate and a master's degree in education,

The 50-year-old attorney is part of Project Promise, an accelerated program run by Florida Atlantic University, Nova Southeastern University and the school district. On Thursday, she'll take the social studies certification test, followed by the general certification test later this summer.